Current Affairs

Online Monitoring of Pollution

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

azadi ka amrit mahotsav


Posted On:

04 APR 2022 3:38PM by PIB Delhi


Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) issued direction under Section 18(1)(b) of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 to all State Pollution Control Board (SPCBs)/ Pollution Control Committees (PCCs)  to further direct industries for installation of online monitoring system in highly polluting 17 categories of industries/Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs)/ Biomedical facility/common hazardous waste facility.

Further, under section 5 of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, CPCB has also issued directions to all the industries falling under 17 categories of highly polluting industries to install online continuous emission/effluent monitoring system and ensure connectivity of data to SPCBs/PCCs and CPCB servers.

CPCB directed SPCBs/PCCs to issue closure directions to existing industries falling under 17 categories of industries and common treatment facilities, commissioned on or before 28.02.2017 if found operating without installation and connectivity of OCEMS. SPCBs/PCCs were also directed to incorporate a specific condition of installing and connecting OCEMS before start of operation in the Consent Order (CTO) of a newly established industry falling under 17 categories of industries and common treatment facilities, commissioned after 28.02.2017.

During 2014-2022, out of 4247 industrial units, 3535 industries have installed and connected OCEMS to CPCB and SPCB server. The closure directions for remaining 712 industries are still in-force. The purpose of the direction was to create self-regulation and monitoring by the industries themselves for complying with the stipulated standards. Sector-wise status regarding connectivity of OCEMS is attached at Annexure-I.

From these OCEMS, real-time values of environmental pollutants of trade effluent and emissions from industrial units are transmitted online to the server of CPCB and concerned SPCB/PCC on 24×7 basis. Central software processes the data and in case of value of pollutant parameter exceeds prescribed environmental norms, an automatic SMS alert is generated and sent to industrial unit, SPCB and CPCB, so that corrective measures can be taken by the industry immediately and appropriate action can be taken by concerned SPCB/PCC.

There are total 4,433 highly polluting 17-categories of industries in the country.  Appropriate actions are taken against non-complying units. State-wise status of 17 categories of highly polluting industries is given at Annexure-II.

Government has taken various initiatives towards control of pollution caused by industrial sector which are as follow:

 

  • Notification of industry-specific discharge standards under Schedule-I: ‘Standards for Emission or Discharge of Environmental Pollutants from various Industries’ of Environment Protection Act, 1986. SPCB and PCCs are mandated to ensure the compliance of these standards. So far, industry specific environmental standards, for about 80 industrial sectors, have been notified.  

  • The SPCBs/PCCs issue consent to establish/ consent to operate and authorization to the industries in the States. Also, the SPCBs/PCCs monitor the compliance of industrial emissions/effluent discharges and other operational activities according to the prescribed standards.

  • Since 2016, CPCB has started inspection of 17 categories of highly polluting industries on the basis of SMS alerts generated on violation of effluent and emission standards. In case of non-compliance, action against industry is taken under provisions of Water Act, 1974, Air Act, 1981 and Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

  • The criteria for categorization of industries has been revised and directed all SPCBs/PCCs to adopt the same. 254 industrial sectors are categorized into red (61), orange (90), green (65) and white (38) categories.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

 

 

 

ANNEXURE – I

 

Sector-wise Status of Installation of OCEMS

S. No.

Sector

Total no. of targeted units for OCEMS installation

Total No. of units installed OCEMS and connected with CPCB server

Total No. of units against which closure directions u/s 5 of E(P)A, 1986 are in force

1

Aluminium

14

12

2

2

Cement

394

301

93

3

Chloralkali

33

33

0

4

Copper

3

3

0

5

Distillery

366

285

81

6

Dye & Dye Intermediates

122

96

26

7

Fertilizer

117

96

21

8

Iron & Steel

424

358

66

9

Pesticide

82

71

11

10

Petrochemical

36

30

6

11

Pharmaceuticals

774

673

101

12

Pulp & Paper

307

245

62

13

Refinery

23

23

0

14

Sugar

646

498

148

15

Tannery

458

417

41

16

Thermal Power Plant

443

391

52

17

Zinc

5

3

2

Total

4247

3535

712

 

Annexure-II

 

 

Compliance Status of  17 Category of Industries

Sl. No.

SPCB/PCC

Total no. of industries

No. of industries closed  by their own

No. of industries operational

No. of industries complying with environmental standards

No. of industries non-complying with environmental standards

No. of industries against which action is  taken for non-complying with environmental standards

1

Andaman & Nicobar

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

Andhra Pradesh

296

34

262

234

28

28

3

Arunachal Pradesh

5

0

5

5

0

0

4

Assam

51

11

40

36

4

4

5

Bihar

43

26

17

17

0

0

6

Chandigarh

0

0

0

0

0

0

7

Chhattisgarh

163

20

143

137

6

6

8

Daman & Diu

3

0

3

3

0

0

9

Delhi

3

2

1

1

0

0

10

Goa

15

2

13

12

1

1

11

Gujarat

517

76

441

344

97

97

12

Haryana

174

8

166

161

5

5

13

Himachal Pradesh

21

3

18

18

0

0

14

Jammu & Kashmir

55

0

55

52

3

3

15

Jharkhand

81

2

79

54

25

25

16

Karnataka

246

47

199

184

15

15

17

Kerala

25

5

20

20

0

0

18

Lakshadweep

0

0

0

0

0

0

19

Madhya Pradesh

96

5

91

88

3

3

20

Maharashtra

506

32

474

434

40

40

21

Manipur

0

0

0

0

0

0

22

Meghalaya

23

1

22

21

1

1

23

Mizoram

2

2

0

0

0

0

24

Nagaland

0

0

0

0

0

0

25

Odisha

186

43

143

126

17

17

26

Puducherry

7

3

4

4

0

0

27

Punjab

98

22

76

71

5

5

28

Rajasthan

197

13

184

181

3

3

29

Sikkim

0

0

0

0

0

0

30

Tamil Nadu

239

41

198

194

4

4

31

Telangana

344

47

297

268

29

29

32

Tripura

5

0

5

4

1

1

33

Uttar Pradesh

855

196

659

646

13

13

34

Uttarakhand

46

0

46

42

4

4

35

West Bengal

131

34

97

73

24

24

 

Total

4433

675

3758

3430

328

328

 

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